Bridget Jones's Baby Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Bridget Jones's Baby Blu-ray Movie Review

Jerry! Jerry!

Reviewed by Martin Liebman January 4, 2017

In Bridget Jones's Baby, title character Bridget does, at one point, ponder whether her life-as-is would be well suited for an hour on The Jerry Springer Show, the popular daytime real-life "drama" in which feuding folks, often fighting over the identity of the "baby daddy," duke it out verbally and, eventually, physically, when various sordid truths are revealed and before good old DNA sheds some biological light on the subject, which occasionally involves a third party yet to appear on the program. This movie is more refined; fists don't regularly fly but the core is much the same, telling the story of a woman who shares her bed with two lovers in close proximity, gets pregnant, and can't be sure of the father's identity. It truly is raunchy TV polished up for the mainstream movie audience, more tender than mean, but still plenty vulgar and decidedly adult-oriented. It has nothing interesting to say or new to bring to its genre, but for fans looking for a little forward direction and, maybe kinda-sorta, closure for the long-beloved title character who previously dazzled in Bridget Jones's Diary and its sequel, will likely enjoy the permutations that see the story's heroine's life change forever, with all of the expected drama, baggage, and laughs along the way.

She's falling...

Bridget Jones (Renée Zellweger) is 43. And she's miserable. She's spending her birthday night alone, and to make matters worse, the two loves of her life are...unavailable. Or are they? Her co-worker Miranda (Sarah Solemani) invites her to a weekend getaway at a crowded music festival where tunes, liquor, and sex are on the schedule. Bridget hooks up with a guy named Jack (Patrick Dempsey). She leaves him in the morning, much to his disappointment. She also runs into one of her exes, Mark (Colin Firth), who is still technically married but in the process of divorcing his wife. She and Mark get down to business, too, and soon thereafter she learns she's pregnant. But with both men sharing her bed in such close proximity, it's impossible to identify the baby's father. As she juggles career, pregnancy, and two very eager men in her life, she must find a way to bring them both into the fold, tell the truth, and hope for the best.

Bridget Jones's Baby is certainly a contemporary RomCom through-and-through. It trades classic charms for potty vulgarity and finds its humor in life's cruder modernities, casual sex, and various who's-the-daddy shenanigans. That's not to say it's entirely charmless or fails to weave together the typical happily-ever-after finale. That's what separates it from Jerry Springer and ties it back into its genre's most fundamental core, but there's no denying that the movie's firm grasp of, reliance on, and affection for a more convoluted approach might turn off more traditionally oriented audiences. That said, the movie is fairly good at what it does. Even considering some setbacks -- it's too long, struggles to gain and carry momentum, relies too heavily on pop music rather than characters to tell the story -- it hits on plenty of its gags and makes sure to bring viewers the sort of character shenanigans they've come to expect from the series. It offers a well constructed foot forward for the popular title character and bookends with an interesting take on the franchise's past and possible future.

Even if the core story is rather lackluster and straightforward, the cast's all-in commitment and enthusiasm is what brings the movie over the hump. The lead trio is infectiously funny and on top of the movie's big gag. There's terrific camaraderie -- camaraderie to spare -- in the triangle, whether it's all three together, Bridget with either of the men, or the men facing off one against the other, which usually results in the movie's best and brightest moments. Each performer brings a spirit and spunk to the film, playing off one another with effortless rapport and milking every joke for all they're worth, usually with some positive body language in support. That said, the movie still languishes under the weight of its absent creativity and peripheral shortcomings, but fans should enjoy the cast's work and the story's progression enough to mask, but not eliminate, its other downfalls that sprout up for the duration.

Bridget Jones's Baby Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Bridget Jones's Baby was digitally photographed, and the Blu-ray yields a very impressively rich and balanced 1080p reproduction. Color presentation is fantastic. The palette is lively and varied, springing from the screen with impressive pop and saturation to any number of shades across various elements, from clothes to city exteriors that dazzle with plenty of inherent vibrance. Detail is excellent, too, with facial textures -- pores, wrinkles, lines, and other assorted characteristics -- the big winner, while clothing lines and textures are stout and revealing. Environmental elements are strikingly complex, too, in TV studios, outside on city streets, in churches, or anywhere the movie happens to go. Black levels hold deep and accurate. Flesh tones appear natural to actor complexion. Source and encode flaws are few; a serious example of aliasing is evident on a necktie in the film's final minutes, but things like noise and banding are practically nonexistent. This is a fantastic new release image from Universal.

Bridget Jones's Baby Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Bridget Jones's Baby is delivered on Blu-ray with a high-energy and fully-engaging DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. Even without the additions of more back channels or overheads, the track never fails to present with plenty of room-filling, spirited energy and no gaps in coverage. Music is wildly entertaining, legit in volume and clarity both, pushing hard through every speaker (surrounds included) for a full-stage assault of Pop music goodness. The low end is fully and deeply engaged as well, penetrating and powerful each time it's called upon. Atmospherics are pleasing, making full use of the stage to recreate environments and placing the listener right in the middle of rainfall and thunder, for example, in chapter 15. The track is mostly music and dialogue; there aren't any seriously active action-type effects, but everything it has on offer is delivered with care and momentum. Dialogue is clear and center-focused, well prioritized, and reverberates around a church in a couple of key sequences.

Bridget Jones's Baby Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Bridget Jones's Baby contains an alternate ending, a collection of deleted/alternate scenes, a gag reel, and several featurettes. A DVD copy of the film is included with purchase (no digital version is included).

• Alternate Ending (1080p, 3:51): Not a true "alternate" ending but rather an in-credit sequence featuring characters chatting to the camera at the wedding reception.
• Deleted/Alternate Scenes (1080p, 17:25 total runtime): A Conversation with Jack Quant, Everyone's Favorite Godmother, Mr. Darcy to the Rescue, Let Me Show You Our Village, Unsolicited Advice from Judges, The Letter, Is It a Boy or a Girl?, At the Airport, and Baby's First Word -- Alternate.
• Gag Reel (1080p, 2:06).
• Full Circle - The Making of Bridget Jones's Baby (1080p): A five-part feature.
• Renée Returns (4:33): A look at bringing the movie together, advancing the story, the cast, revisiting the Bridget Jones world, Zellweger's performance, and more.
• The Difference That 15 Years Makes (2:32): A quick discussion of character advancement from the previous entries.
• Bridget's Boys (5:39): Exploring the two key male figures -- and potential fathers -- in the movie, including character details and casting.
• In London, In Love (2:58): Working in London, keeping Bridget in the same flat, and capturing the city's qualities for the film.
• Sharon's Show -- The Director (3:15): Discussing Director Sharon Maguire's work, personality, and the qualities she brought to the movie.

Bridget Jones's Baby Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Bridget Jones's Baby might irk-at-best or turn-off-at-worst more traditionally minded RomCom devotees, but fans of the series who are in search of some forward-stepping storytelling and franchise-advancing goodies should find the movie, at the very least, dramatically palatable if not downright fun. It's saved from a number of missteps, including poor pacing and bloat, by an enthusiastic lead trio. Universal's Blu-ray offers a scatter of decent little extras to go along with top-flight video and audio. Recommended to franchise fans.